Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Well hello everyone!

Well to start off with weather was crazy this past week. It SNOWED four days out of the week. None of it stuck but still, SNOW! That was pretty cool but also really crazy. Another huge thing that happened was that our investigator, K, came to church for the first time! It was super cool to finally have someone come to church for the first time. She really enjoyed it. She was a bit nervous in the beginning but a sister in the ward took it upon herself to fellowship her and off they went! We didn't even have to say anything! It was awesome.

This week will be a bit hard to write about just for the fact it was a regular missionary week. We didn't have anything crazy go on, well I mean some crazy things happened while tracting but I can't really tell you about those haha. No events or anything this past week so it was just a normal week of contacting, tracting, and just being a missionary. Sharing the best message in the world, to the worldly, to save them from the world. But it is great to be a missionary and it may be super hard but it is all worth it even when someone just takes a pass along card. You feel like you've done something. But overall this past week was good, no crazy stories though...

Personal study was awesome this week. Yes I know it's a lot of scriptures but it's God's word so you can't get enough of it!

1 Nephi 22:25

2 Timothy 4:7

2 Nephi 2:11-14

1 Peter 1:18-19

D&C 58:27-28

D&C 29:39

Moses 6:59

2 Nephi 2:24-25

Also I read Elder Renlund's talk this week. Part of the Swedish Christmas carol he sand stood out to me:

Jesus, we need Thee,

Thou dear children's Friend.

I no longer wish to grieve Thee

With my sins again.

He also said, "Whatever our current direction or distance to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, we can choose to turn toward Them and draw closer to Them." We are never too far from the Savior and Heavenly Father to turn back. You are never too far gone for the Savior's love to reach you. They love you and They want you to come home to Them. I love you all and have a great week!

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Well hello everyone!

It's been a pretty good week here in Finland. It rained some days which was totally AWESOME. So weather here has been really great. So something interesting that happened this past week is that we went on exchanges with the Vantaa Elders! That was a lot of fun. Elder Jensen knows lots of music so it was great to talk to him about that, and Elder Mincen likes rap as well so that was way fun. We still got lots of work done and we had a lot of fun doing it.

A kind of cool experience that I had on exchanges was we were tracting and this man opened the door. At the beginning he just said, "I stay away from religion and it stays away from me." But we started to introduce the Book of Mormon and the Spirit softened his heart a little bit and he said he'd take a Book of Mormon but that he didn't have time to meet or, in reality, that he still wasn't interested. We then showed him the #Halleluja video and talked a little bit more about Joseph Smith, Jesus Christ, and the Book of Mormon and at the end he said, "Well, I guess I could spare some time to hear a little bit more about this." It was so amazing to see the Spirit testify of truth and soften his heart right before our eyes. He went from not accepting a Book of Mormon to him allowing the Vantaa Elders to go back and teach him more. It was awesome! It's so cool to see the Holy Ghost change someone right in front of you and just see the Lord's hand in what we are doing.

This week was packed with super awesome scriptures. I only chose a few that were good but, just know, that the scriptures truly do hold power and the answers to your prayers. :

That is about it this week! I just want you all to know that Heavenly Father loves you and He gives us these experiences in life such that we can grow into the person that we need to be. I actually wrote something about this. It's kind of cheezy but bear with me, hah.

Have you ever understood that trials are how you grow?
That this the reason why you came below?
Do you understand that you have a Father that love you more than you know?
Progression in every facet may at times seem slow,
But you need to remember that you reap what you sow.
What you invest into your relationship with Him can make Him a friend, not a foe.
Remember you had a great debt to owe,
And that that price for your soul was not low.
So sit back, buckle up for the show,
Let all of your pains and afflictions go,
And just watch as you see the Master's hand let the blessings flow.

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Hello!

Wow, this past week was pretty crazy. It's been a bit rainy but a lot of the other times it's been pretty warm and sunny! We had exchanges twice this past week which was pretty great. We were able to go and be with the Office Elders which was a lot of fun and really informative. I was just able to have a great time talking about life with Elder Frey. The work is going along very well. It's just great to be here in Finland and just meeting all these different people. And trust me there is a LOT of great people here to meet.

We also were able to have the Zone Leaders come and have exchanges with us. And by some crazy transfer thing, Elder Nissen became a Zone Leader here in the Helsinki Zone! So I got to go back out with him and with Elder Nelson. It was an awesome day and I always learning from other missionaries.

I just want to say a couple of things to everyone. I want you all to know that I love each and every one of you. I'm so grateful for you all and how you've shaped me as a person. These experience and challenges of being on a mission are fantastic ways that the Lord has to teach me. He is the Gardener. He cuts me down because He loves me, and He wants me to grow into something more than I am right now. He helps me become the person I am supposed to be. He loves me and He loves each and every single one of you. I've been shown a lot of my weaknesses lately but I know that God answers our prayers. Through His Son's Atonement, we all can be made strong when we feel we can't see the end of our trials. He loves us unconditionally and each thing that happens in our lives, is for our benefit and for our good. He wants nothing more than for us to be happy. Let His love make you happy. Then once you've felt it, share it. Personify Christ's love. Show that love by word and by deed. You will be blessed, but more importantly, you could be that blessing in someone else's life.

I had some pretty great scriptures and talks this week so if you want, read them!

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Terve teille!

Wow, this past week was busy. We had something going on every single day. One of the biggest things that happened was that I had a sort of exchanges day because Elder Baker had extended MLC and so I spent the day with Elder Ireland and Elder Buhler! It was a lot of fun. Then of course there was General Conference. Wow, being a missionary and listening to General Conference was amazing. I hope that everyone watched and just soaked in the Spirit that was there. Did you have a favorite talk? Share it on social media and see the good that can come from it! There was pretty much the entire Helsinki Zone that watched it together so it was great. I know that General Conference was a huge testimony builder to me. How grateful I am that we are able to have the Restored Gospel back on the Earth again today. I'm so happy to be a missionary sharing this amazing message. It may not always be easy, many times I need the Lord to strengthen me, but never-failing He catches me when I fall and picks me up and I feel the loving embrace as I am comforted. I love my Savior and I know that He loves each and every one of you. Now, let us take what we learned from General Conference and apply it such a way that we can become better people.

Studies this week were super great. It's amazing that I spend an hour studying the Gospel for myself, and it has started to become almost not enough time! The Gospel truly is just that amazing. There were many different thing that stuck out to me, but here's just a few passages:

1 Nephi 9:6

1 Nephi 8:33

Hebrews 12:1&12

James 1:22

I hope you are all having wonderful lives and that you can see the Lord's hand blessing you every day. I promise you that if you look for it, you can find His love for you in the things that manifest around you. It's great to be an emissary for the Lord. I love you all so very much and just remember, "Remember who you are, and what God expects you to become." -President Monson.